If You Can’t Get Onstage, Go Online

In an early episode of the web series “Submissions Only,” created by Kate Wetherhead and Andrew Keenan-Bolger, the struggling actress Penny Reilly, excited to be cast in a workshop production of an important new musical, ends up with such a small part that she’s seated behind a piano where the audience can’t see her. The scene is funny, but the humiliation was real for Ms. Wetherhead, who plays her.

She and Mr. Keenan-Bolger met during a production (not that workshop) of “It’s a Bird ... It’s a Plane ... It’s Superman,” at the Dallas Theater Center in 2010. “I was definitely at a place in my acting career where it wasn’t quite taking shape the way I had hoped,” Ms. Wetherhead said, “and the lack of autonomy and the amount of waiting between jobs started to feel really daunting.”

They decided to work together on a short video about the life of an actress, figuring they would put it up on YouTube and see what happened — low budget, low risk. And Ms. Wetherhead got to cast herself in a lead role. The video generated enough interest to prompt them to continue; and a few thousand dollars of their own money and two Kickstarter campaigns later, they’re about to start the third season of “Submissions Only,” a series that explores the comic indignities of the actors’ life that both performers know only too well.

For the new season, which begins Monday at 9 p.m., the producer Kevin McCollum (“Rent,” “Motown”) signed on, more than doubling the budget (about $200,000 for eight episodes) and allowing for actor paychecks, new equipment and better production values. Mr. McCollum’s desire to bring “Submissions Only” to Hulu or Netflix didn’t pan out, however; the show will be presented on BroadwayWorld.com.

With its fervent following, “Submissions Only” is foremost among a cluster of do-it-yourself web series that allow theater actors to create work for themselves while waiting for casting agents and other gatekeepers to give them a shot (and to spoof or satirize those very gatekeepers along the way).

For many performers, even the chance to appear as a guest star for little money is advantageous. “This has been an opportunity for people to get their face on camera, to practice on camera,” Ms. Wetherhead said. “You’re in a safe environment with your friends. You can make mistakes, you can forget your lines, you can not hit your mark, and no one is going to care, because we are not big TV producers watching the clock and getting stressed out.”

There are enough of these series (episodes range from a few minutes to almost a half-hour) that a digital platform called Stage17, expected to start this month, plans to make some of them part of its programming. Here’s a closer look at several entries in this ever-growing array of series, including one that Stage17 has already signed up.

CREATORS Kate Wetherhead writes and directs; Andrew Keenan-Bolger is the editor and director of photography.

THE GIST A struggling actress (Ms. Wetherhead) and her gay casting-director friend (Colin Hanlon) try to find success and love in New York. “She’s an exaggeration of me in my 20s,” Ms. Wetherhead said. “I just wanted desperately for my talent to be enough, and the harsh reality is that it’s not.”

NOTABLE GUESTS Santino Fontana, Judith Light, Audra McDonald.

STATUS Season 3 will premiere Monday on BroadwayWorld.com.

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Gideon Glick, left, and Wesley Taylor of "It Could Be Worse."CreditPeter James Zielinsk

CREATORS The 20-something performers Jee Young Han, Jonathan Lee and Justin Anthony Long wrote, directed and produced the 11-episode series, which ran on YouTube starting in fall 2012.

THE GIST A comedy about three young performers trying to take New York by storm, based on real experiences. “I was a non-Equity actor, and it was very difficult to get into auditions,” Mr. Lee said. “At points, I was like, ‘Why am I even in this business if I can’t get seen?'”

NOTABLE GUESTS Billy Porter, Laura Osnes.

STATUS “We’re in that awkward shopping-around period where we hope to find someone who’d like to produce the series, and we’ve also discussed possibly doing a Kickstarter,” Ms. Han wrote by email.

CREATORS Kieran Turner, a film-maker with a theater back-ground, is the writer and director. He lives in Los Angeles but casts and shoots in New York. “I worked for the Shubert Organization and was very involved in theater, and I love New York actors,” he said. Among those in the cast are Off Broadway mainstays Gibson Frazier and Susan Louise O’Connor.

THE GIST Janice (Christianne Tisdale) leads a support group for single folks, mainly in their 30s, who have trouble meeting people.

STATUS A five-episode first season appeared on YouTube last spring, and Mr. Turner is in postproduction for Season 2, which will be shown on Stage17. He has begun writing a third season as well.

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Bradford How, left, and Jason Cicci in "He's With Me."CreditHe's With Me

CREATORS Jason Cicci is producer, writer and a lead actor. He self-financed the 10-episode first season for about $6,000.

THE GIST Mr. Cicci plays Martin, a grouchy, gay theater critic who strikes up a friendship with a straight guy (Bradford How) and has an eclectic circle of friends. Mr. Cicci said he didn’t want to create a show that was too theater-centric; “He’s With Me” is more about Martin’s romantic aspirations.

STATUS Mr. Cicci is writing a second season and putting together a fund-raising plan.

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